Newton School

This afternoon Sarah and I did our first assembly at Newton School.  It was great to go into a new school, to see new children and staff.  After introducing ourselves Sarah explained what we do and invited the children to stand up and sing Great Big God.  Some of the children knew the song, I did go through the actions for the children first so that they could join in.  After the song Sarah asked for two people to come out to the front.  She gave one a plate and the other some toothpaste.  Sarah explained that they were going to make some decorative art with the toothpaste - which they did.  However when asked to do a little more I gave the tube a big squeeze and loads of toothpaste came out making a real mess everywhere.  Next she asked them to put the toothpaste back into the tube - so they tried and tried and tried - tipping the plate up, turning it around but they couldn't do it of course.  I then explained that it was so easy to get the toothpaste out but very hard in fact impossible to get it back in again.  It is a bit like us when we open our mouths to speak - sometimes we say good things but there are times when we don't and once we have said it we can't take it back again - just like the toothpaste.  I went on to say that our tongue can do more damage that hitting or kicking someone.  Sarah then asked how a fire is started - by a spark she linked this to the verse in James which talks about a small spark starting a huge fire - that is what our tongue is like.  We should use our tongue for good things like giving praise to people.  After the little talk we sang Shine.  Sarah then closed the assembly with a prayer.